


Most popular Voltron at school

by afabulousjello



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Gender-Neutral Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Lance and Allura are close friends and a menace, Lance and Allura centric, Multi, Recreational Drug Use, Shiro and Keith are foster siblings, all the crew plus select aliens are here, more characters and warnings will be included later, nebulous educational institution, school gang au, ship tags apply for later, yes they are a weed gang
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-07
Updated: 2017-10-23
Packaged: 2018-12-25 01:23:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,438
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12025146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afabulousjello/pseuds/afabulousjello
Summary: Lance and Allura are the hot stuff at school, ethereal, beautiful, bisexual.Hunk is a ray of sunshine and an engineering genius.Pidge is a computer freak and recluse.Shiro is the star player on the football team with the edgy loner brother Keith.And Matt?Matt is the man with the green thumb.Matt is the weed man.-Gratuitous tomfoolery and antics including recreational drugs aka how team Voltron accidentally founded a school gang.





	1. Pilot 1

**Author's Note:**

> This started with some silly art ideas had and has now grown into something bigger. 
> 
> Disclaimer:  
> Is this a high school? Is this a college AU? The hell if I know. Maybe one of those american movie high schools where 30yo play 16yo characters. I don't know a single thing about US educational institutes, and am too tired to research. Please accept this as a part of this AU.
> 
> BUT the characters as written are all of age, except Pidge
> 
> Allura and Coran have french heritage, and Allura's last name is NOT Altea.

How it all started

  
  


Halls were filled with masses of students stumbling along to find their lockers and newly assigned classes before the last tune of the bell. Not that that would have been very audible amongst all the boomboxes and portable speakers the local cool kids brought along to blast out their preferred soundtrack for the first day of school.

Lance elbowed some kid out of the way and slammed onto the locker next to Allura’s. He cursed and opened the latch in a fluid movement.

“How’d you do that?”- She asked.- “You were assigned one further down the hall.”

Lance wiggled his brows and licked his lips in a pointedly exaggerated fashion.- “Persuasion.”- He said.

“You slut.”- Allura snorted, and jabbed him in the arm. Her face however showed none of the implied disapproval.

Fuck, Allura was beautiful.  Like she was always anyway, but it was times when she was smiling away freely and with genuine emotion when Lance thought she was especially beautiful. He was so goddamn lucky to be friends with her.

For people that didn’t exactly had a lot common at sight, they did in fact have a lot in common, however that was mostly expressed in personality traits. Lance and Allura had been part of the athletics team in high school for years and had naturally gravitated towards each other, as the team-chosen naturally attractive popular kids do. 

People were just too damn intimidated to talk to them, so they struck up conversations with each other. Occasional chats turned into hanging out, which turned to introducing and merging friend groups, which turned to never even leaving each other’s sides. Allura was there when Lance broke his ankle after a bad pole vault landing. Lance was there when Allura had her only and largest fight with her dad. Allura was there when Lance became an uncle. Lance was there when Allura won the debating championship.

Unseparable. Linked at the hips. The most dangerous kiss and tell Academy Altea has ever seen.

Or so Lance wanted to be. Hunk would have laughed at that. And would have been a little hurt Lance did not include him in his description. 

In actuality, Hunk was just a completely other category. He grew up with Lance on the beach since they were toddlers. That is just something you don’t compare to your friend from school.

“Let’s go.”- Allura chimed and led them towards their classroom. They made their way past a lanky boy with messy hair and glasses, who has awkwardly stopped next to their lockers. The boy briefly flashed them a smile and continued on.

  


Boy-with-the-messy-hair made a reappearance once they were seated in the classroom, much to Lance’s surprise. He had a dazed expression and glanced in their direction from time to time. He seemed nice enough. Soft, fluffy, disarmingly innocent smile. 

No, Lance shook his head. No more awkward crushes.

In the back of his mind he registered the teacher starting roll call, but he didn’t pay it too much mind yet. Sanchez was on the bottom of the list anyway. He rather checked on his phone to see how Hunk was doing, who much to their dismay, had been stuck in another homeroom.

“Bergier, Allura- “

Lance looked up stuffing his phone back into his pocket, afraid the teacher’s eyes might catch him  _ in flagrante _ , but instead the homeroom turned to the right where the soft messy boy was sitting, dazed expression still on his face.

“MATTHEW HOLT!”- She bellowed.- “Unless it escaped me that you have to repeat a year despite your scholarship worthy grades, explain what your overqualified behind is doing in my class?”

Matthew blinked innocently, and plastered the most shit eating grin on his face that Lance has ever seen. 

_ Oh no, he was soft looking and a fucking meme. _

“Oh, Mrs Ste, you me. I just follow what my eye fancies.” -he said with a wink to Allura. The class was filled with laughter and Allura waved at him flirtily.

“Holt, get back to your class or I’ll send you to the principal’s office again.”

Matthew laughed and gathered his stuff, bowed at the door to complete his performance.

“Bergier, watch yourself with that one. He’s trouble.”- Mrs Stephenson said a last warning before class continued.

  


“Hunk, hunnybunny!”- Lance greeted his friend and jumped into Hunk’s arms. It was foolproof, he would always catch him.

Hunk let out a sigh, but he  _ did _ catch Lance. 

“How was your first day?”- Lance asked between bites of his wrap after he disengaged from Hunk's beautiful arms.

“Was Ok. Iverson is an absolute terror though, watch out for him.”

“What does he teach again?”

“Science and maths.”

“Oh boy.”- Lance grimaced.-”How about we trade geo and lit for sciences again?”

“You will need to be able to pass calculus on your own at some point if you want to work for NASA one day.”- Hunk reminded him.

“You know that’s just something I tell the niños to keep them off my back.”

“You have been serious about it once-”

“Yeah, but since when do you need calculus for xenobiology- wait never mind, I don’t want the answer. You probably actually know.”

“Sorry for having my life planned out.”- Hunk huffed with little actual hurt.- “Where’s Allura anyway?”

“Cheer tryouts.”

“Seriously?”- Hunk asked incredulous.

“Well, I think she wanted something more girly.”

“Will she not continue with hurdles then?”

Lance shrugged.

“Will you?”

“Keep pole vaulting? Hell yes, that is like my only CV-worthy talent.”

“Ah come on, you got more going on than that.”

Lance smiled self deprecatingly.- “Thanks buddy. Means a lot coming from our local star engineer.”

Hunk wanted to reply to that, but Allura rounded the corner in that exact moment, so he rather shut it.

Allura was flushed red, and very slightly more disheveled than at the beginning of the day. She had an amazing talent for getting ready in the absolute minimum time.

“Lance!!! Oh boy Lance!!”- She beamed at them.

“Did you make it?”- He asked her excited. 

“Heck no, that wasn’t really my style.”- She waved with her hand.- ”No, Lance: cute girls. I met an absolute sweetheart, Shay’s her name I think, she could bench me. Lance, she could bench  _ me _ ! “

Lance nodded appreciatively. “Fair enough.”

He could imagine how toned someone must have been to lift Allura easily. Not like Allura was fat, but she was heavy and well  muscled from years of athletics training with thighs like a goddess.  Allura had an incredibly good taste in women anyways, which made Lance excited to meet anyone she was excited about.

“Wanna go celebrate on Friday?”- She asked.- “I might not have wanted in on the team, but they still invited us all to their team night out.”

  


***

The place was jam packed with fresh students, apparently all enjoying their weekend after the first tormentous week of school. 

Allura swayed to the music as they entered the club, letting the beats replace her heartbeat. She saw Hunk from the corner of her eyes automatically insert the earplugs into his ear. 

“Good eardrum maintenance is paramount.”- He would say.-”You’ll be sorry once you are old and deaf and I still have 20/20 hearing.”

Lance lead them towards the bar, always the tallest and most skilled at maneuvering through people like cutting through the waves of the sea. Given some more space, Allura singled out the members of the cheer team and joined them immediately. 

A more than an hour must have passed when she emerged from their chatter and dancing and dragged herself back to the bar for refreshments. Much to her disappointment, Shay had not been around, but she has found good company anyway. Hunk was engrossed in a conversation with one of the girl’s boyfriend about engines or dogs or something really, Allura hadn’t been paying them a lot of attention.

Glancing towards the dancefloor, she found Lance dancing with a short asian girl. They seemed to be having fun, but then again, Lance seened to have fun dancing regardless of who he was dancing with.

She rubbed her tired eyes and turned back to order, when she was greeted with an unexpected, but familiar face.

“Matthew..?”- She asked, leaning closer to be heard over the music.

“Call me Matt”- The soft looking rebel boy from that morning said.- “It’s Allura right? Pretty name.”

“It’s French.”

“Oh, ok. ‘French’ is a weird name. Can’t say I know a lot of people named that.”

She cracked up. - “No, you jokester, my name is from France.”

“I got it, ‘From France’”- He laughed mischievously.- “What brings you here?”

“Cheer squad hangout.”

“Oh wow, welcome to the most pretty and popular then.”

“Oh no, I didn’t make the team. They invited me along.”

He whistled impressed.- “Even more then. Welcome to being the fucking queen of Academy Altea.”- He took a drag of a well concealed short cigarette.

“What are you doing here? Is this just the general Altea hangout den?”

“No, I’m babysitting my sister. Little sibling.”- He corrected.- “Pidge is”- he made a vague hand motion.

“Where is your sis-sibling? From what I can see you are not really doing a good job.”- She teased.

“Oh, they’re up there.”- Matt pointed to the DJ stand.

“Your sibling is mixing here?”- Allura gawked.

“Yeh. They’re hella talented.”

“My god, yes, they are.”

He pretended to wipe away an imaginary tear from his eye.- “Baby sib-link.”

She noticed the cigarette in his hands again, how much it was not a cigarette at all.

“You sure you are allowed to smoke in here?”- She asked concerned.

“If you do it clever enough.”- He raised his eyebrows at her.- “Do you want a drag?”

Allura shrugged and accepted the tiny joint. Tobacco was a masking and dominant flavour in the mix, but it was actually quite good as far as cheap student joints went. Maybe even a level above cheap student joints.

She exhaled the smoke slowly and handed him the joint back.- “It’s really nice.”

“Thanks, I grew it myself.”

“You did? Congrats.”

Matt was truly hiding more talents than anticipated.

“My bf is out of town on an internship, so I got an empty house and lot of free time, if you want to hang out.”- Matt scribbled a number onto a rizla sheet and handed it to her.

“Bf as in boyfriend or bestfriend?”- She asked biting her lip.

“Wouldn’t you like to know.”- He answered cryptically.- “I gotta go round Pidge up, it’s time for their bedtime.”- He said and left her standing at the bar. 

After a minute or so, Hunk joined her, clearly exhausted.

“I am ready to go home, sorry. I am absolutely knackered.”- He said.

“Dancing too much?”- She asked.

“Human contact too much.”- He groaned.- “David tried to convince me to join the football team.”

“Are you gonna?”

“...Maybe.”- He admitted.- “I am definitely considering it. But-”

“You won’t lose your scholarship because you play a sport Hunk. Go on, be young, do a sport and enjoy life.”

“You’ve got it easy, ‘Lura. The entire team is enamoured in you, even though you are not even a member. It’s harder for a guy like-”

“Hunk, you got the face and body of a god.”

“I hope it’s not Dionysios.”

“Dionysios was known to love food and throw mad parties. Hunk, those are good qualities.”- She said rubbing his arm encouragingly.

“You met anyone interesting. Cause I don’t think we will be taking Lance home tonight ourselves.”

“Ooooh!”- She cooed.

“Yes, I saw them making out pretty serious.”

“He got himself a pretty miss.”- She giggled, a bit too sharp and too much maybe.

“Are you drunk?”

“A little high maybe.”- She shrugged.

“What?!”

“I think “-She hesitated and looked at the spot where Matt has disappeared into the crowd.- “I just made friends with a weed man.”


	2. Pilot 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More exposition about families and the wild idea is thrown into the room- just how successful could Matt's plants become with the right business coaching from yours truly?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter warnings: referenced drug use, accidental deadnaming

“Baby Pigeon, the big kids want to hang around without your short ass!”- Matt complained.

“Send me away and I’ll tell mom about the weed.”

“Fuck you!”

“MOOOM!”- Pidge yelled at max volume capacity.

“Christ Pidge, what are you, like five?”

Lance jogged up the stairs just in time to catch the end of the sibling banter.

“Hey Pidge-Podge!”- He ruffled their their as he was passing.

“Lance.”- They grunted back, eyes still shooting daggers at Matt.

“Holt.”- He bumped his fist with Matt and clapped on his shoulder.- “The others here yet?”

“Yeh, just give me a second.”- Matt brushed him to the side turning to Pidge again, who hasn’t budged from where they were rooted at the door of Matt’s room.- “Listen here, gremlin. If you tell mom about the weed, I’ll tell her about the DJ-ing and that’s the end of the good fun for life.”

“That is filling my college fund!”

“Well, tough luck, short stuff!”- Matt shrugged and slammed the door in their face.

“Sibling trouble?”- Hunk asked from where he was seated on the floor next to the small couch that Allura was spread out on.

Matt’s room was one of those converted attics, super large and spacey. It was mostly plastered white and furnished with light brown pine furniture, kind of boring altogether. Matt’s decoration was sparse, some empty spaces on the wall hinting on the past location of Matt’s favourite posters that he had taken with him to his small apartment.

“You wouldn’t understand, Hunk.”- Lance replied instead of Matt. He walked over to the sofa, scooped up Allura’s legs and sat down, repositioning them in his lap.- “The true torture of a younger sibling. The only peace and quiet you get is when they are dead.”

“Let’s not forget having to hide everything you own and want to continue having for yourself.”- Matt chimed in.

“Oh, that one.”- Lance reminisced.- ”Being one of the yourngsters, I’ll admit I am guilty of that one. I have at least five of Daniel’s good jackets in my wardrobe right now.”

“The one with the lock on it?”- Hunk asked.

“Yeh, I swear to god, Luciana once actually tried to pry open the doors with a crowbar. Mom stopped her, but I think only because she was afraid I was hiding porn and crusty socks in there.”

“A yay to being lone children then.”- Allura quipped in interrupting her texting and high-fived Hunk.

“Omg. How many siblings do you even have?”- Matt asked as he picked up a small bean bag to sit on. He had also retrieved a small locked box from under his bed that had all the dried weed in it.

“Four. I got an older brother, two older sisters and a younger half-brother.”

“Oh, are your parents still together?”- He asked carefully.

Lance leaned forward and picked up a small pack of rizla and one of the small satchels.- “Yes, uh Mateo is not technically a half sibling. He is more like my cousin, his exact relation to us is a bit muddy, but he has been living with us since he was twelve and I was fourteen.”

“How old is Pidge?”- Hunk asked.

“Uh, ‘16 and a half’.”- Matt imitated their indignant tone.

“Rumour has it a girl died on these stairs when she was nine”- Hunk quoted.

“I’m eleven so shut the hell up.”- Lance finished the quote reflexively. The other two laughed heartily.

Allura put away her phone for good and extracted her legs from Lance’s lap. She sat up properly and squeezed Lance’s knee to get his attention.

“You gonna say it?”- He scanned her face for signs of uncertainty. The idea had been stupid; a dream conceived amidst thick fumes and jolly laughter. But Allura was nothing if not a businesswoman. She nodded at Lance.

“We have a business idea.”- She started.

“More like Allura had an idea, and I am just here for the laughs.”

“You are never here just for the laughs.”- Hunk squinted at him suspiciously. He really didn’t appreciate being left out.

“Why do I have the feeling that it has to do with the lucky green plants in my possession.”- Matt asked apprehensively.

“Bingo!”- Allura mimicked Lance’s trademark fingerguns.- “Matt, how many people are you sharing your harvest with right now?”

“Uh, about 15, you guys included.”- He said somewhat hesitant.

“Now, clearly this harvest is a lot more than what 15 people could comfortably smoke, and my point is that every single person I shared even just a small sniff with has asked me about the origin of it. Let’s face it, you are just growing very very good stuff.”

“No, I mean I am not gonna pass up on the praise, I get what you are hinting at but, I am not sure I can come up to the demand.”

“Uhm, where are you making this stuff anyway. Coz I thought you lived alone; being here, I am confused though.”- Hunk asked.

“Uh, yeh that is part of the supply problem. I do live in a smaller apartment, but that’s cause I work literally on the other end of the city in graveyard shifts and public transport at night is just not gonna get me home before sunrise at all. I come home whenever I can, cause you know, it is comfier here, especially with my roommate out of town.”- He rambled on.- ”And that is part of the supply problem thing.”

“What do you mean?”

“Doing anything unorthodoxly horticultural in a little apartment rented by two students is just more than likely to raise some red flags.”

He paused again, the other three waiting for the end of that story.

Matt sighed and closed his eyes.

“So I’m growing it here.”

"..."

“You are making weed _right where your mama_ -”- Lance shouted and was halfway out of his seat. Allura grabbed him by his waist and pulled him back down.

“Lance, Lance! This is a white people home!”- She chided him.

“I mean yes by all means, sorry about the shouting man,” -He said with a calmer tone.- “but _what the hell_?!”

“You are growing marijuana plants in your parents basement? Do they _know_?”- Hunk asked concerned.

“It is not the basement technically.”- Matt explained sheepishly.- “Do you want to see my lab?”

Lance shrugged, but Allura was enthusiastic and already out of her seat. - “Sure I do.”

Matt led them to wall that his bed was pushed against, the same side that his door was on.

“I think you’ve noticed that this house is a semi detached, and I found out that our neighbours did not finish furnishing their loft. In fact, it is sealed off and they don’t use but a very small part of it as an attic. But I can get in there from our side of the house.”

Matt pulled away a bit of tapestry to reveal a panel cut out from the wall. He moved panel and climbed in through the hole, which was barely large enough for an adult to fit through.

“You can probably all come in, just standing up will be a bit troublesome.”- He called from inside.

Allura climbed in first, followed by Lance and lastly by Hunk. He grumbled a bit about tight spaces, but once inside they could actually all fit pretty nice among the tables- barring that they _did_ have to stand hunched over.

It was bright as hell, even though only half of the lights were on illuminating about five plants. Tubes ran along their pots dripping water from the tank in the corner. A fan whirred quietly at the slanted side where bundles of marijuana were hung up to dry as well.

“As you can see, space is not the issue, there is some more room behind me, but that is dangerous territory, cause the neighbours might actually hear me moving around. It’s just that I can only work on this when I’m at home.”

“Can you make more saplings to grow from?”

“Sure, once they bloom.”

“Oh that is the problem isn’t it? They do that in the summer when you are not around home that much.”- Hunk guessed.

“No,  actually these are lab grown ones from seeds. I diverted their natural cycle to be reproductive during winter months. That’s when they need the most light and it’s not like I have any light in here, so the lamps must be on at all times. Since we use more electricity in the winter anyway, it’s easier to mask.”

Lance whistled. -”You really got this planned out.”

“That is the point, I guess. You gonna get busted immediately if you don’t.”

“Do your parents know?”- Hunk asked.

“I’m pretty sure my dad has an idea, but he doesn’t seem to mind. Or he chalks it up to ‘being young and living life’.”- Matt shrugged.

There was some noise coming from the floor to their left and Matt jolted, immediately clambering past his plants and climbing out the hole.-“Shit, someone’s coming up.”

They heard the door open a crack and Mrs Holt talk as the three of them climbed out as well as quietly as possible.

“I’m going to the grocery store, is there anything you wanted.”- Mrs Holt asked.

“No, I’m good. I’m going home tomorrow anyway.”- Matt answered.

“I’m taking Katie with me, god knows she hasn’t left the house in days.”- She grimaced.

“It’s Pidge, mom.”- Matt corrected her, his voice tired.

“Right, taking Pidge with me. It’ll only be an hour or so, so don’t take the house apart. Let Bae Bae in if she’s scratching at the door, I left her in the garden for now.”

“Ok, love you.”

“Love you too.”- She said, then turned to the guests behind her son’s shoulders.- “In case you are gone by the time I’m back, it was nice meeting you all!”

Allura flashed her a brilliant smile and waved back.- “It was nice meeting you too, Mrs Holt!”

“Oh, call me Coleen!”- She said, already treading down the stairs.

Matt swung the door shut with an elegant push to the frame and turned around to his friends.- “That means we have like three hours with an empty house.”

“Didn’t she say she is just gone for one?”- Hunk tilted his head confused.

“Trust me. She is the slowest shopper in existence. She will be comparing five kinds of wholegrain rice before she makes a choice.”- Matt swatted his concerns away.- “There are certain perks of scientist parents.”

“What _do_ your parents do?”- Allura asked.

“Mom is doing data analysis for a meds company I think and dad is a NASA astrophysicist.”

“No way! Your dad works for NASA?”- Lance asked baffled.- “You gotta let me meet him at some point.”

Matt seemed a bit surprised by his enthusiasm, so Hunk explained.- “Lance has been dreaming about gong to space since forever.”

“Yes!”- Lance turned to Allura and pointed an accusing finger at her.- “So Allura, don’t fuck this up for me! I wanna be able to use my connections when I apply!”

“Right.”- Matt said unconvinced.

“We have a house to ourselves.”- Allura stated.- “Do you want to start a bible study group, or should I put some music on-”

“I’ll call the hookers!”- Lance interrupted her and flung himself onto the couch, legs extending over the armrest.

Matt connected his phone to the small speakers next to the old TV that he had and snorted at his joke.- “We are already trying to start a weed gang up here, I think hookers would send my parents over the bend for good.”

Allura's smile was downright wicked in how excited she was that Matt seemed tempted by her plan.

“They can’t mind what they don’t know.”- Allura chimed and pulled Lance up from his prone position to join her dancing.

Soft K-pop beats filled the room from Matt’s playlist and they started putting on their silliest moves. Shuffling, twirling and soon also the famous club-dance grinding.

Lance walked up behind Allura hanging his hands over her shoulder. She grabbed his hands and spun herself around in a twirl, finishing the move with bending over. Lance grabbed her hips and slid up his hands along her sides as she stood up, Allura lifting up her arms in a fluid motion to extend his path. She leaned against him, hands buried in his hair as they rocked to the beat.

Matt couldn’t stop but gawk at them in daze.

“And there is our advertisement material.”- He muttered.

“You sure about this?”- Hunk asked next to him, eyeing the same spectacle.- “We are founding a weed gang?”

“Are you sure?”- Matt threw it back at him.

“I mean, my mums would probably kill me for even being near the stuff, so yeah. In for the penny, in for the pound.”- He shrugged.- “Also these two idiots will burn themselves out and get killed if I’m not around.”

There was a couple of beats of pause then Hunk let out a long and incredulous huff.

“We are founding a weed gang.”- He repeated.

“Yes, I think we are.”- Matt giggled with his thumb worrying at his bottom lip, mind already deep in worrying about logistics.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> All of Lance's siblings names will be revealed later, as well as Allura's family background. For Hunk I am going with the headcanon that he has two moms and a large fluffy dog.
> 
> Pidge is identifying as agender in this fic and Coleen is trying her best, but it hasn't been long since Pidge has come out in the timescale of this fic.
> 
> Prepare for a timejump as we approach the actual story bit of this mess.


	3. Episode 1: Status Quo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The new school year begins with pleasant new surprises.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> \--Warnings for strong language and reference to drug consumption and dealing with drugs--
> 
> Team Voltron owns the school and my ass.
> 
> [I have added the chapter count for this arc of the story. I am not sure how far I will get with writing, tho I have like 40K words down in my draft. It is at least giving me a sense of direction and completeness, even if I have to abandon my original plan halfway through. Thank you for sticking around and being patient!!]

“I get it all man, but you gotta stop acting like you are the 3 second hover-over preview on pornhub videos!”-Hunk complained.- “First of all decency, and second of all, it is actually making my job a lot harder if I have to keep prying horny boys off of you every time you are striking up a deal.”

  
“Do you want a free sample?” - Lance grinned at him, draping his body on Hunk’s and bringing his face close, which was immediately thwarted by Hunk’s large hand catching his face and pushing him away.

  
“No thanks, I’ll pass.”

  
“Ah, got a date with Shay?” He teased, face still smushed by Hunk’s hand.

  
“No, just remember, to keep your libido in check. We are not running a brothel.”

  
Lance straightened his posture, letting of the flirty affecting mannerism, but he retained his smile. -“You know this is acting, right? Just cause I’m bi and act like hot stuff doesn’t mean I want to end up in bed with every living thing with two legs.”

  
“Good thing, cause that includes chicken.”- Hunk deadpanned.

  
It took Lance a second to connect.

  
“Why would- gross, Hunk! I would never fuck a chicken.”

  
Hunk Laughed and Lance pulled out his buzzing phone from his pocket.

  
“What’s the stitch Pidge?” -He asked.

  
Despite Matt’s protests, Pidge has quickly become an invaluable member of their team. It turned out, it wasn’t as easy to hide large scale illegal substance cultivation from the Holt parents and Matt had needed someone to look after the plants when he was not around. Thanks to Pidge’s ingenuity and never ending paranoia, they had managed to navigate a path that would throw the feds off their tracks. They managed about fifteen throwaway accounts with many different bank accounts to buy the necessary equipment off of reputable Internet sellers. Extra sunlight strength lamps and industrial grade fertiliser would look suspicious if bought together, but purchased from separate accounts delivered to addresses belonging to abandoned houses was less of an obvious scheme. So part of Lance’s job in this all involved a lot of waiting around at random addresses on Pidge’s orders, waiting for packages to sign with fake names.

  
“Have you heard from Rolo yet?”- They asked in an extremely annoyed tone. Lance could hear the clacking of a keyboard in the background of the line. He could imagine them hunched over, eyes squinted in a caffeine deprived state and yet hammer away on the computer just right.

  
“No. Should I have?”

  
“Matt has come down with a chest infection, so I’m the only one holding down the fort at home right now. So we gotta cash in on what Rolo’s bunch have done earlier than expected.”- They complained.  
“I’ll give him a call later.”

  
“Talk in person!”- They reminded him.- “You know the NSA has-”

  
“The NSA has their ears everywhere. I get it. Don’t worry, I’ll not let you get abducted by shady government workers before your time.”- Lance stopped or a second. - “Hey, this is your first day of school, get off your laptop and swing your ass here.”

  
“How do you know I am not already?”- They asked, always the cryptid.

  
“Then you could have found me in person, rather than wasting free air time. But no, I know you are home.”

  
“Humor me detective, how would you know.”

  
“Hmm,”- Lance hummed theatrically.- “My money is you are still home in your pyjamas. The keyboard sounds are loud, so I’m guessing you are sitting in front of the PC and not your laptop. Not like Coleen would let you take your laptop to school. It’s probably on lockdown right as we speak, am I right?”- He teased.

Pidge let out a grumble on the other end of the line.- “I hate you.”

“See you later then.”

Lance hung up and turned to Hunk who passed him his backpack.- “Thanks man.”

He had gone into summer busy, and had come out of It busy as well. 

Somewhat around last spring it had become painfully clear that they were unable to meet demands from Matt’s five plants alone and had to recalibrate their trajectory. The choice was to either give up there and then or take the next big step after starting a small enterprise amongst friends: enlist outside work. Branching out wasn’t an easy decision, every step driving them down the road to becoming the hottest juvenile crime lords of the region. Matt had confided in his trustworthy stoner friends to look after the second ‘laboratory’ they kept. Not once has Rolo ever shown up not high when Lance was meeting him, but at least he showed up and he was indeed a man of his word. The best anarcho-hippy Lance knew. And even so, he was very, very loony.

The only trouble that came with farming up his stash was that Rolo often liked to experiment around and created new breeds that didn’t always exactly hit the safely consumable margin if THC among the regular population…

Let’s not hope that this batch has fallen to that fate as well, Lance thought.

 

 

A quick ride later Lance was delivered to the main building, while Hunk was trying to find a free spot in the already jam packed parking lot. Lance sure hoped he would be successful before the first bells rang. He made his way across the large lawn that spanned the space in front of the main building of the Science Department of Academy Altea, looking for their usual morning meeting spot. He soon found the resident cotton candy cloud of hair that he was looking for. Phone in one hand, squinting at the screen and in her other hand…

“You already smoking before school is even back on? This is not a good habit, girl.”- Lance chided as he sauntered up to Allura. 

Allura shot him a dark glance as she took a drag out of her cigarette. 

“Hold this.”- Lance said as he deposited a cup of coffee into her now empty hand and plucked the cigarette from her lips and bought it to his own.

“Look who is talking now.”- She lifted an eyebrow, all while still continuing to text.

“Wrong. You smoke because you are stressed, I smoke because I enjoy it.”- He said self-satisfied. He took a deep drag and made a disappointed face lifting the stump towards the sky and analysing it with knitted brows.- “Is it just me, or does regular tobacco feel just…bland, nowadays.”

“I know exactly what you mean.”- Allura said wistfully. 

Lance withheld her cigarette for one more drag before he pointed towards her cup.- “Drink up. You’ll need coffee to get through the week.”

“You got me coffee?”- She beamed up at him, truly a testament to how much she needed a good cup of the dark liquid. Lance raised his eyebrows and pointed to the cup literally in her hand again.

“Latte Macchiato, no sugar.”- he said.

“Thank you. I fucking love you so much.”- She said as she dove into the warm cup, savoring the substantial foam.- “Starbucks?”

“Had a deal behind Altonhore this morning with Hunk. He drove us and we stopped by the mall for breakfast.”

“Where is he anyway?”

“Fresher orientation I imagine.”

“Ah, the devil’s work.”

“That indeed.”- Lance nodded and took a sip of his frappe. 

“Have you heard from Matt? He is late again.”

“Pidge called me earlier. He should be out of it for a week at least, since he caught a nasty infection.”

Allura grimaced.- “Right at the start of the year as well.”

“We should be fine on the stock we have anyway. We are every year.”

“You say that as if we have been running this for decades.”- Allura retorted.- “We’ll need to call in on Rolo, hopefully he is not too swallowed up in his fumes to pick up a phone.”

“Relax, Allura.”- Lance said putting a hand on her shoulder.- “People will not mutiny on us because we have less joints than your imagined quota.”

She shook her head and pushed his hand off.- “I am worried, because I wanted to cash in on the freshers while we can. Pidge is not booked at The Rev till October, they’ve finally sent me their rota, and I am not starting the bartending at Impaled till even later.”- She was getting out of hand, already worked up about minuscule details and things she couldn’t fix. 

“You forget that we have no need to put in extra advertisement for ourselves, because basically the entire relevant student body knows what we are up to, and the rest of them just adore you.”- He said and pressed a finger to her forehead where the wrinkles were already forming from having frowned so much.

She pouted at him.- “I worry all the time. I like to stay on top of things and being organised.”

“And that’s how it’ll be. It is literally the first day, people will find us eventually.”- Lance was actually very sure of that one. They just seemed to gravitate to them naturally.

“That is a lot to bet on.”- She said extinguishing the stub with her foot on the matted grass. 

“Isn’t that all we ever do?”- Lance gave her a cocky smile. There never was any guarantee that they were not going to be busted any second, with only Allura’s dedicated bail money standing between them and an early death in jail.

Pidge shuffled up to them, face still grumpy and clearly suffering. They looked just like Lance had expected them to look like, given that they were cowering in front of their computer not 20 minutes ago.

“How do you people get out of bed this early?”- They grumbled.

“Some of us don’t spend a substantial time of our lives as a blanket burrito.”- Lance snickered.

Pidge frowned at them displeased and turned to Allura instead.- “Matt is not coming, so who are we waiting around for?”

She finally pocketed her phone and took another sip of her coffee, looking over the incoming hordes of Freshers and tired returners alike with a grin.

“Nothing. I guess I just like to observe my kingdom.”

Pidge rolled their eyes and started to shuffle towards the building, shooting dark glares at people who threatened to bump into them.

 

 

If there was one thing that was regrettable about passing on into second year was the increased time they all had to spend apart. Lance had come to terms with missing Hunk, so the separation between them as they went on to study Xenobiology and Mechanical Engineering respectively, didn’t hurt as much. Lance kind of missed Allura, who had decided to stay pure Astrophysics. They still had core modules together, sure, but there just was a lack of shared moments between adjoining lectures, a lack of shared in jokes about equipment malfunctions and silly substitute teachers.

Lance knew that being extroverted was just his nature, but guilty thoughts washed over him in quick passing as he couldn’t help but sigh in honest relief when he saw his friends again that afternoon.  
He treaded down the familiar halls leading to the sports stadium, despite never having played a game there himself and arrived at the seating area, benches stacked tall and imposing. The others have already taken their customary position overseeing the player entrance, behind the few rows where the cheer team converged for their yearly tryout practice.

Hunk was tiredly re-telling Allura the atrocities that incoming Academy Freshers were subjecting him to, which he already texted Lance in real time as it happened, of course. Hunk was very big on letting steam off through gossip, sometimes multiple times a day, if the stress was that high. He was diligently rolling low-weed tobacco mix joints from the pile that was spread on the bench between the two of them. Normally that would be Lance’s job, but he was very wrung out after athletics practice and Hunk had a far greater need for the relaxing property of the repetitive action anyway.

“Three times have I been emailed by panicked people about how they did not get accepted or like ‘are these grades OK’ and I’m like, please for the love of god, just google your departmental policies or like contact Admissions Office, because I sure as hell am not that.”- Hunk ranted. He had his bright orange Student Adviser jumper on, the ‘neon sign for stupid questions’ as he liked to call it, all crumpled and sweat stained after a long day now and had his hair tied back in a ponytail.

“One of these days I swear to god, I will reply and it will be the worst troll of their lives.”

“Oh god, can you imagine?”- Allura shuddered.- “Showing up on the first day to be told that you emailed the wrong people and they told you some bullshit?”

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure I’d get expelled over that. Serious disciplinary action.”- He mocked and Hunk chortled absentmindedly.

There was a pause and as soon as Hunk focused in on Lance, he pointed an angry finger at him.- “Fish are in the water and surrounded by water the whole time and they are wet.”- He said in reference to the text Lance has sent him earlier.

“No they are not! Something is only defined as wet when it has water on its surface and is exposed to air. Which only happens once you remove the fish from the water.”- Lance said defending his point of view.- “It’s simple physics.”

“It’s metaphysics.”- Allura clarified.- “Once you start assigning definitions like that it’s straight up philosophy.”

“Never mind.”- Hunk groaned.- “This is like the black and blue dress all over again, except this time its semantics.”

“You: white and gold dress discourse. Me, an intellectual: wet fish physics debate.”- Lance delivered with a shit-eating grin and the other two laughed.

Lance felt his pocket vibrate and saw Allura pick up her phone as well, meaning that the majestic group chat had been alerted. 

“It’s from Matt”- Allura reported.- “He wants us to… film the cheer practice?”- Allura lowered her phone and looked mildly disgusted.- “What the fuck, weirdo? Never have I lost more respect for him than just now.”

Lance looked at his own phone disgruntled, but he was interrupted by the sound of a whistle being blown, beginning the cheer practice. Lance looked over the well established team, Shay standing out the most of them with her tall frame and broad stance as the captain of the team. The rest of the initiates were stood in a line in front of the team. They looked… pretty average so far, until Lance reached the end of the lie and saw an extremely small, kooky figure.

“Wait a second… Is that Pidge?”- He asked incredulous and noticed Allura squint at the odd person as well.

“Ooooooh!”- Hunk shouted excited.- “Guys, this is really good! The rest of Matt’s message came through! Pidge lost a bet and this is Matt’s revenge for the other day when Pidge posted that ancient video of him trying to be a funny youtuber.”

“Holy shit, it is them.”- Allura gasped just as Pidge was awkwardly accepting the fluffy pom poms handed to them.

“I can’t believe they are actually doing this. They can’t even do a kick-out without having their knee bent.”- Lance grinned.

“Wooohoo! You go Pidge! Go! Fight! Win!”- Allura shouted loud enough to hear down on the pitch. Though they couldn’t see the eye-roll, they could exactly see the dark glower that Pidge was sending their way.

“Go, go Pidge!”- They cheered and Pidge seemed to sink in absolute mortification as the rest of the girls started noticing the enthusiastic fanclub offering ‘support’. Lance noticed with a burst of dark pride as a couple of them started whispering, recognising Allura and Lance’s faces. 

Given any other circumstance, a stunt like this might have soured up Pidges entire school career, but Lance was pretty confident Pidge was in the right hands. The gossiping girls giggled once again and sent some shy waves their way before returning their attention to the practice.

They enjoyed the next forty five minutes heartily, laughing about Pidge’s silly moves and ‘unique’ routines. Thanks to Shay’s tutelage though, they actually seemed to enjoy the whole ordeal halfway through the lesson. 

That didn’t stop them though from stomping up to the rest of them sweaty, flushed and absolutely looking like death.

“I swear to god!”- They puffed angrily.- “If any of this has been recorded I am ending every single one of you.”

“Too late!”- Hunk cooed and made a show of snuggling his phone.- “I already have it sent to Matt.”

“You are dead to me.”

“Say that again after I pull another tray of brownies out of the oven.” - Hunk said slyly. 

Pidge huffed and slammed down on the other bench, kicking their bag underneath it.

“Hey guys!”- Shay hopped up the stairs once she has disbanded the rest of the team. She flashed them a beautiful smile and an even softer, more radiant smile at Hunk to which he immediately began straightening out his jumper.

“Hi Shay!”- He said, like he hadn’t seen her last Wednesday on a morning jog.

“Hello, beautiful sunshine of our lives.”- Lance greeted her, exuberantly enjoying the blush creeping onto Hunk’s face.

“How’s being back to class?”- She asked the whole lot of them.

“Not bad, so far.”- Lance shrugged and the rest of them seemed to gather behind that umbrella response.

“I got some exciting news about paperwork!”- She shimmied around very fired up, hands drawn up close to her chest.

Allura burst out a short laugh.- “About paperwork?”

“I pulled a lot of weight with the Societies Committee over the summer -extra special thanks again Hunk- and I finally got stunt cheerleading approved!”

“Oh my god, really?”- Allura jumped up from the bench and grabbed Shay’s hands, the two of them now both bouncing.

“Yes! I never want to do a risk assessment ever again in my entire life or attend another safety training but I did it!”- She said tired, but infinitely happy.- “Do you want in?”

“Maybe?”- Allura confessed.- “I am definitely tempted, but I am not sure how that would work out with the … uh… rest of my commitments.”- She side eyed the pouch full of weed on the bench. 

“Right.”- Shay said grinning, but a bit dejected. She disengaged from Allura and took a seat next to Pidge.

“Listen, uhm.. If it’s all the same to you, my Gramma would like to invite you all to the next service she is doing. It should be fairly tame, she wants to channel the Lwa for mind and intellect to guide us into a prosperous new term. But as you know the outcome is not always up to her, it kinda just happens.”- Shay said sheepishly turning to Lance.- “You don’t have to come along, I know it’s not your religious-”

“Of course I’ll come. Don’t worry about it.”- Lance said.- “She believes in her brand of magic and if it makes her happy, then sure I’ll be there.”

“You must think she is loony.”- She looked away.

“I do think she is, but for many different reasons, not because I think she’ll taint me with Voodoo magic.”- He tried to laugh it away, but Shay seemed still very self conscious. Which was understandable, really. Who knows how many years she had been ridiculed for her Grandma’s practices. It was part of her culture like Catholicism was part of Lance’s.- “Honestly, Shay? Of all the things I’m up to, do you really think engaging in another religion’s activities will kick me off St Peter’s List?”- He joked and the kind tone tickled a soft smile onto Shay’s face.

“I guess not.”

“I’ll just learn some new things, like last time.”- He shrugged, then added grimly.- “Even if the only thing I do is that I never want to be anywhere near an animal slaughter ever again.”

“Sorry about that again.”

“Ah, no worries. The food at least was magnificent.”

“Oh yeah, I’ve been meaning to ask your Gramma for the spice mix she used on the roast for ages.”- Hunk chimed in.

“Oh, I’m sure I she’ll give you some. Not sure whether she has an actual recipe for that one.”- Shay continued, putting a stray hair behind her ear.- “Actually, I’ve been meaning to ask whether you were taking over as a captain this year.”

“Ah, no. Probably not. The star captain from before our first year is coming back from a placement and I’d rather let him take up the role again.”- He explained shrugging.- “Besides, I am just a defense player, I am not exactly captain material.”

“Don’t sell yourself short!”- Allura patted him on the shoulder.

“Let me rephrase that: I am not that much of a lad to connect with people on the team. Satisfied now?”- Shay grinned, but Hunk pouted as he continued.- “Besides, Darren and Jovi are still terrified of me ever since I had to round them up for debt collection.”

“Oh no, those fuckers.”- Allura grumbled. 

“Yeah.”

 

 

Not long after they had said their goodbyes Lance had found himself on the way to the car park with Allura and Hunk, all three of them knowing that he was hoping for a free ride from either of them.  
The afternoon light was painting a nice golden halo around the Science Department building, patterns of light on the old stone reflected by the glassed surfaces of the surrounding modern buildings.  
Lance chuckled contently as he listened to Allura’s re-telling of her day.

A person passed them by, and Lance felt compelled to turn his head after them. It was an enticing presence, he imagined if his life was a movie this would warrant a large angle camera pan and a zoom in on his face as inexplicable flower petals were carried by the gentle wind. 

The stranger was drop dead gorgeous.

He was tall, had black hair, Asian features and the only blemish on his face was a small scar across his nose bridge, but even that only served to make him look more rugged and handsome.  
Lance sighed loudly and he heard someone else exhale with him in unison.

He didn’t need to turn to look at Allura to know it was her. Even more so because as he focused ahead he was met with Hunk’s frown. He looked an interesting combination of apprehensive, disapproving and done.

“What?”- Lance shrugged.

“We are so not doing this again?”

“What are you talking about?”

“You two”- He wagged a finger between Lance and Allura.- “Getting some monstrous crush on a guy you barely know. It literally never ends well.”

“Come on Hunk, we are not some Barbie dolls from a high-school movie.”

“You are two individuals, with impeccable taste and a massive inferiority complex and insecurities meaning that you project onto anyone you like and put them on a fucking pedestal.”

Lance could have sworn his heart actually stopped for a second at the absolutely brutal murder that Hunk delivered. He felt his cheeks redden.- “That is absolutely not true!”

Allura was finally shaken out of her stupor.- “When did that ever happen?”

Hunk made a show of thinking.- “Hmm, would you like that list itemised by name or date?”

“Very funny.”

“Remember Laura? Or Naixap? Gabriel what’s his face?”

“Ok we get it.”- Lance pouted.- “We are not allowed to find someone attractive.”

“Attractive, yes. But that just now was your ‘crush’ face, not your ‘attractive’ face. I know you Sanchez, you have no secrets from me”- Hunk pointed obnoxiously close to his nose and Lance pouted.- “I

am putting you two in love life time-out.”

“The heart desires what it desires, Hunk.”- Allura cooed, then added slyly.- “Wouldn’t you know a lot about that? I mean, I could just tell Shay how long _your_ crush has been going on…”

“Noo!”- Hunk made an awkward lunge towards Allura, but she sidestepped easily, almost bumping into Lance. The three of them were now once again posed in a perfect 2v1 showdown. Lance felt his skin glow in glorious superiority. Hunk has just lost big time.

Above his friend’s head, he looked over the receding figure of the hot guy as he approached the parking lot himself. He stopped for a second, then changed direction and Lance frowned as the hot guy approached someone at the bike park. 

The other guy was sitting astride a scrappy red motorcycle and was wearing what Lance would have called a modern imitation of a 50s bad boy outfit. Maybe it was just regular motorcycle clothes. They looked ridiculous anyway, as they were crowned by a soft flock of dark hair at the top of his head. 

Lance thought for a second and it seemed like he was meeting one of the guys straight out of Matt’s K-pop videos.

Hot Guy stepped closer and they seemed to be engaged in a conversation, a pretty intimate one, if their body language was anything to go by. Hot Guy leaned forward and gently touched a dark spot underneath K-pop-Hair’s eye that looked like a forming bruise. K-pop-Hair batted the hand away and withdrew angrily.

“Who the fuck is that anyway?”- Lance asked, eyeing K-pop-hair-guy, as he put on his helmet.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is a lot of things that went un-researched in this chapter. Voodoo religion was NOT one of them. I hope I have not misinterpreted anything that I have read up on. If you have concerns regarding that, please don't hesitate to tell me and I will take it down!
> 
> On that note, I am not sure how obvious it is to non-Catholics, but St Peter's List is the list of people who have gained admission to Heaven.
> 
> Naixap is like, Narti's sister probably.... I am talking out of my ass when it comes to names.
> 
> Yell at me at my [tumblr](https://afabulousjello.tumblr.com)
> 
> It kills me so bad that I had a Halloween chapter planned that I wanted to release on the date, but there is literally no way I will be able to finish four whole chapters before that's due!! :'((  
> Next chapter will be available in like a week or two.......

**Author's Note:**

> Head over to my tumblr for updates on this AU and some art I made!
> 
>  
> 
> [TUMBLR](http://afabulousjello.tumblr.com/tagged/most-popular-voltron-at-school)
> 
> Art of the characters made by me:  
> [Vol.1](http://afabulousjello.tumblr.com/post/165084505233/virslii)  
> [Vol.2](http://afabulousjello.tumblr.com/post/165084510218/virslii-they-are-literally-the-best-characters)


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